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"I know people are looking with the intention to invest. My view is there is still more to come."

She said any investors who were looking at the economic indicators such as GDP would be able to see it was a "great time to start coming into the city".

December brought a big spike in consents - with $19.3m worth issued, compared to $3.4m in December 2015.

This included 22 commercial consents worth $16.4m, compared to 17 consents worth $1.5m in December 2015.

The biggest three were issued to Te Puia New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute for work on its redevelopment, with the combined value worth $15m.

The FreshChoice supermarket on Te Ngae Rd also was given consent for $700,000 of building works.

In December, 61 residential building consents were issued worth $2.9m - up 51 per cent in value compared to December 2015.

Te Puia chief executive Tim Cossar said it was good to have the consents through for its new restaurant and wananga developments.

Work included a wananga (tertiary education) precinct for the national schools of wood carving, weaving, stone and bone carving, and bronze foundry, and an integrated cafe and restaurant function centre overlooking the Pohutu Geyser.

He said contractors started on site at the end of last year, doing preparation works for the build.

Mr Cossar said he hoped to have the new development ready by the peak of the next tourist season.

"Our target is December but we have to be mindful of the weather. Our aim is to have it all done by then."

But while builders are busy, they say they still have capacity.

Roland Tissink, of Tissink Builders, said his firm had been very busy.

He said they were "pretty much" booked out but could take on some new work.

Mr Tissink said it was mainly new houses.

While he wasn't surprised by the figures he said he was surprised it had taken people so long to recognise Rotorua's potential.

Burton Construction and Maintenance Ltd's Andrew Burton said while they had a reasonably good workload moving forward they weren't "swamped".

"Currently there is good inquiry for the first half of the year but it's still competitive."